The choir's history
The East Riding County Choir is a Beverley based choir drawing members from a wide area of East Yorkshire.
In 1955 Noel Wright, the headmaster of Sigglesthorne school and subsequently the choir secretary for many years, suggested to the County Music Committee that a choir should be formed to give local singers the opportunity to sing major choral works. After the war, a number of small choirs had been started as evening institute classes by the East Riding County Education Committee. Members of these choirs met annually to perform Handel’s Messiah in Beverley Minster, which was the only opportunity to sing a major work with an orchestra. Walter Hart, the County Music Adviser, (who founded the East Riding Youth Orchestra), visited rehearsals of the evening institute choirs in March 1957 and invited some of the more experienced singers to join this new venture. The East Riding County Choir, numbering about 35 singers, had its inaugural meeting in Summer 1957 at Longcroft School, and the first rehearsal took place in October of that year conducted by Walter Hart. Presumably because of its link with the Education Authority, many of the members were teachers, but any singer was welcome as long as they were good music readers.
Rehearsals were held fortnightly on Saturday afternoons at St Mary’s Boys’ School (now Beverley College), starting at 2 p.m. and finishing at 7 p.m. with a break during which a cooked meal was provided by the school meals staff. Some members travelled considerable distances to attend rehearsals in the days when few people owned cars. A founder member from Hedon recalled that she and a friend had to leave home at 12.30 p.m. to take two buses to Beverley, and returned home by about nine o’clock.
The choir placed emphasis on unaccompanied part singing, and covered an ambitious repertoire ranging from madrigals to 20th century composers such as Moeran, Britten and Howells. They gave two or three performances a year in halls and churches in different parts of the East Riding, as well as continuing to support the annual performance of Messiah in Beverley Minster. A further memory is of the choir entertaining at a private house party at Wassand Hall at the invitation of Sir Marmaduke Strickland-Constable, a keen musician and supporter of local music making. It was a very foggy night so all the singers had gathered at Sigglesthorne school house to let Noel Wright lead the procession of cars to the entrance to Wassand Hall. He proceeded to lead his trusting followers through a gateway into a muddy field. They eventually arrived safely at the Hall, but when the conductor attempted to make a speech thanking Sir Marmaduke, he was roundly told to ‘shut up’ by the resident grey parrot! She also remembers performing in Sledmere church, after travelling through deep snow, to an audience of eighteen people. The singers walked back to the vicarage where the vicar had prepared a huge supper for them himself. They then had a difficult journey home, arriving at 11.30 p.m.
After Walter Hart left the area to take up a post in Leeds in 1961, the choir was conducted by Peter Fletcher. He continued the tradition of singing unaccompanied, but increased the size as well, in order to perform larger works such as Brahms Requiem as part of the St John of Beverley Festival. After he left in 1966 Douglas Marshall, deputy conductor for many years, trained the choir for an interim period before Keith Dixon was appointed in 1967. In 1969 the present conductor, Alan Spedding, formerly the Minster organist, took over the choir. The membership was deliberately increased in 1973 in order to sing Verdi’s Requiem and now stands at approximately 150. The choir still draws its members from all over the East Riding, and, apart from two major concerts in Beverley Minster on the first Saturday of May and December, occasionally gives smaller concerts in rural churches, usually by invitation to raise money for charity. Although it is a very different body from that originally established, Walter Hart’s objective of ‘meeting for the enjoyment of singing’ is still the choir’s aim.
When it was founded, the choir was under the auspices of the East Riding County Education Committee. Members paid an annual subscription fee of 10 shillings (50p), which was increased to £1 in 1973. Concert deficits were approved by the County Music Committee and paid by the Council, so the choir had no financial worries. However, in 1977, after financial support had been withdrawn by Humberside County Council, it was necessary for the choir to become an independent body. With the bank balance at that time standing at £212.13, and a concert costing around £900, serious consideration had to given as to whether the choir could continue. At the Extraordinary General Meeting, there was overwhelming support from members, who undertook many fund-raising efforts to raise the necessary money as well as approving a 500% increase in subscription. Two ‘Meet the County Choir Days’ took place in Beverley library, when members demonstrated their varied talents, apart from singing, which raised the profile of the choir as well as making money. The choir is now self-sufficient by subscriptions, ticket revenue, one small grant and fund-raising activities to cover in excess of £20,000 needed every year.
Since 1970 the choir has performed most of the major choral works. The choir is very lucky to be able to draw on talented local musicians to form an orchestra under the leadership of Pat Mitchell, who also leads the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1985 the choir commissioned a composition for Christmas 1986 from the Beverley composer Anthony Hedges which he based on the 14thC carol ‘Angelus ad Virginem’. A highlight in the nineties was the performance of George Lloyd’s Symphonic Mass, shortly before the composer died. This is a rarely performed work, and a dramatic departure from the choir’s usual repertoire. The choir, after initial misgivings, thoroughly enjoyed rehearsing, and the audience gave a rapturous ovation at the end of the concert. In 2005 Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, coupled with Sullivan’s festival Te Deum, was an exciting evening of English music which challenged the choir but they responded magnificently and gave a memorable performance.
In 2007 the choir joined with Beverley Chamber Choir in performing Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ in Beverley Minster. The choir had not performed this before because of the large vocal and orchestral forces required, so it was a unique opportunity to hear the work considered by Elgar to be his finest achievement.